Don's Travels: Prairie School: architecture over two days

by Jane

Once upon a time (back in New Zealand, some years ago) I found a book called At Home on the Prairie: The Houses of Purcell & Elmslie by Dixie Legler and Christian Korab. (Note to house-sitters: I think it's currently loafing on the bottom shelf of the New Zealand collection bookcase in the living room.) The houses in the book were absolutely beautiful and I spent a lot of time admiring them. Then came Blue Balliet's children's story The Wright 3 about one of the houses designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

I didn't know it but I was developing an interest in something called the 'Prairie School' architectural style. So when this trip around the US was in the planning stages I sent an email to my Dad (the planning department) saying I wanted to see some Prairie School buildings. I was able to give him one site as a reference - the very detailed one about Purcell and Elmslie and the Wikipedia entry on Prairie School as an overview. He went on to find the very useful Prairie School Traveler which gives details of Prairie School buildings in each US state.

One of the problems with Prairie School houses is that they are in almost all cases in private ownership and still being lived in (surely a testament to their design) so Dad chose two commercial buildings to visit; one in Sioux City (yesterday) and one in Owatonna (today).

Here, then, are a few words and a lot of photos about the buildings we visited. (Photos almost all by Dad - using his 'big' camera.)

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Woodbury County Court House

[Wednesday, 19th September] We arrived in Sioux City, Iowa, about 4pm, found a park for the car and trotted down the street towards the court house. Perhaps I hadn't been paying attention but although I recognised the front of the building from Dad's planning emails I had completely missed the fact that there was a six storey tower on it. Complete with eagle!

Here are photos from outside the building:

Front including outside lights

Detail of outside lights

Side

Detail of decoration under the eaves

Tower

Detail of eagle

From the information pamphlet available in the court house:

The Woodbury County Courthouse represents an American statement in architecture which originated within the Chicago, Illinois, offices of Louis Sullivan. The style, developed in the 1890's and referred to as Prairie School, came to reflect the Midwestern sense of design, color, and landscape while providing an economical and practical utilization of space.

Plus photos from inside the building:

The dome

Detail of glass panels in the dome

Detail of central structure in the dome

Two of the styles of lighting inside

The standard lamps

Detail of one of the murals

More from the court house pamphlet:

Architect William LaBarth Steele originally submitted drawings reflecting a Gothic Revival design. After selection by the Board of Supervisors as project architect, Steele contacted former co-workers George Elmslie and William Purcell. The three men set forth to design an operational floor plan for county government. The building's exterior would be dictated by this floor plan.

The excellent Prairie School Traveler site has other photos and information.

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National Farmer's Bank Building

[Thursday, 20th September] In Owatonna was the first of Louis Sullivan's 'jewel box' banks. Although we hadn't yet read the term we experienced the low 'keyhole' entrance that you step out of into the huge, light filled jewel box of the lobby. I was so amazed I trotted back a couple of paces to where Dad and Gary were still walking in and informed them they would never believe was was inside.

Sitting square on the street corner

The 'keyhole' entrance

Like the court house this building is still being used for its purpose - now the Wells Fargo bank. Imagine working in a place like this! Sadly it was very difficult to get any overview sorts of photos so here are some photos of different details from inside the building: